I'm a Travellin' Man

Overheard:

Hay: "Why are gypsies called gypsies?"

Chairman: "People used to think they came from Egypt, but they actually came from northern India. And Ireland..."

Hay: "So they are nomads?"

Chairman: "No, the Nomads invaded England in 1066."

Gypsies. The ideological position of any town council, left or right, is that they cause a mess wherever they go, so they should be moved on. What happens though is that the problem is just shoved to somewhere else because no-one can think laterally.

Councils spend fortunes policing and clearing up traveller caravan sites, only to have to do it time, after time, after time. Gypsies are not going to disappear from the face of the UK - the most sensible solution therefore is to provide them with a number of permanent camps with some basic amenities. These can be policed and placed in areas where there is little disruption to community life around them.

Yes, there will be a cost involved, but far less than continually having to battle gypsies and their detritus year after year after year. Far too sensible though.

The ironic thing is that we're a nation of over a million caravan or motorhome owners, so a whole swathe of the population aspires to the travelling lifestyle. It's not so much the lifestyle that upsets people though, as the mess travellers leave behind. Mind you, some of the people driving along our road are not much better if the stuff they chuck out of their cars is anything to go by.

We were out for a walk in the Slad Valley over the weekend and on passing a farmhouse I spotted a kid of about 8 or 9 playing in the garden. I felt like telling him to get inside and play on the internet, just like other normal kids of his own age...